Maximum Ride: The Draco Deviation
1
Hey. What's up? Nothing much, I'm sure, if you're reading this. But as you read this, take note; you very well might end up in a situation like this. If you do, never forget; you aren't alone.
My name's Apex. Me and the featherwings are wing-buddies. I call Max and her family the featherwings, or the f-wings for short. She doesn't mention me in her stories because of one of my powers. Yes, powers. You see, we're all mutants. If you want more information, you'll have to find "Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment" and read it for yourself. My story starts when the f-wings broke into the IHL, the Institute of Higher Living. The only kind of 'high' there was either the drug-induced kind or the flying kind. Either way, it wasn't good.
When they opened the door to the caging area I was in, I automatically made myself unnoticed. I don't mean I made myself invisible; if only I could. I mean that I forced anyone who looked at me to ignore me. It's more of a mental thing than a physical one. In any case, they were opening all of the cage doors. I didn't say anything because I was still afraid. Is this some kind of new psychological test? They pretend to let us go, then capture us one by one? I decided to go along anyway.
To make a long story short, it wasn't. They really were the real deal. We all got out, but Molly, our own personal angel winged girl, decided she didn't want to go with the f-wings, and most agreed with her. But I on the other hand, wanted to stick with them; they seemed cool. But I kept my power on; I didn't want them to get scared and send me away.
I followed them all the way to the bandstand. When Max started laying out all of the pages she had printed, I got excited. But when I began looking over the shoulders of the f-wings, I lost interest quickly; they had only printed out stuff about themselves. So I went to the back of the bandstand, the darkest corner, and lay down. I closed my purple snake's eyes and fell asleep. Yes, I said snake's eyes. You see, just as the f-wings are avian mutations, I am a… well, you may not believe me when I tell you. I'm a dragon mutation. No, I don't have scales everywhere or anything. All I have are humongous wings, harder-than-average skin, and the ability to make myself unnoticed. And the purple snake eyes, of course.
I got my mutation from my creator, the 'great' Doctor Frank N. Stein. Odd, that the person who makes mutants for fun (like myself) has a name similar to that age old doctor who brought a monster made of dead parts to life.
Unlike the f-wings, I like the dark. The purple snake eyes are a by-product of night vision testing. Apparently, Iggy, the explosives and electronics expert, was tested on for the same thing. But he went blind. I'm just a weirdo. I tell him all the time that I'd change at any time. That way, I wouldn't have to put up with the looks people give me. But seeing as neither of us are doctors, I think that would be hard to pull off. So Iggy stays blind, and I tell people that I have contact lenses.
I woke the next morning, sneaking around the sleeping bodies and taking some food from each pack I saw. Since there were six of them, plus the dog, I couldn't take too much from any one bag; otherwise they'd know I was there. And wouldn't you know it, when I get near the little girl's bag -Angel, I think- that dog, Total, wakes up.
Now, don't get me wrong, I love animals, as long as they aren't Erasers and aren't trying to kill me. But there are two ways to get by my power of penumbra. Either you have to be looking for me specifically, or get an animal because animals can see me all the time.
So Total woke up, saw me closing Angel's bag, and he went off. He tried to bite me, but I took off into the air. He continually barked as he tried to jump up and bite me. Soon the entire flock was awake.
Max, always the leader, was the first to act. While Total kept me busy, they had been packing. But a few seconds before takeoff, Angel remembered that Total wasn't with them. I had caught him and was holding him down while he scratched at my chest. Go harder skin. Max looked up at me, and I looked down at her. "If you want Total back, you can have him. Just please take me with you!" I landed 10 feet away from Max and the other f-wings. I kneeled down slowly and let Total go. He tried to snap at me, but I pulled away.
As Total trotted over to Angel, Max stared at me. "Why do you want to come with us? We don't even know you."
I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, I know. But I know something about you. You set me free, and I know your names. I just want to be as free as you are. I hated the Institution; you may have an idea as to what it was like." I said, gesturing to their wings.
Max, who was still wary of me, walked over to Angel. She knelt down and whispered in her ear. As I looked on, Angel nodded, then turned to stare at me. I felt like something was crawling over my head, then it felt like someone flipped a switch and I could hear the thoughts of the six.
What does he look like? Probably Iggy, seeing as he's blind.
Why are his different from ours? Sounds like a child.
Why are his eyes all purple like that? Maybe it's because of the testing. Testing has weird effects on people…Wow. Who's the chatterbox?
Can we trust him? Two counts of that one.
I wanna bite him for scaring me! Huh?
What? You can read minds too? Double huh?
When I heard the last thought, I saw Angel's eyes open wider. Who is this? Who's… reading my mind? I am. Angel. What?! Well, what are you looking for? The possibility that you are working for the School or the Institute. I shook my head in amazement because I apparently had a new power. But besides that… Well, if that's all, go ahead and search. And search she did. Me, with my new power, pushed all of my thoughts in front her 'searchlight' for scrutiny.
Once she was certain I wasn't out to get them, she pulled away from my mind and turned to Max. I didn't hear what they said, but Max turned towards me, as did Fang. "Ok, you can fly with us. But first sign of treachery, we will beat you down." I smiled for the first time in years. "Thank you, so much. And don't worry, I won't be a burden."
And I wasn't. The first time we landed, it was a cold night. I was able to keep warm because of my natural extra warmth and the fact that I wrapped my wings around myself. But when I saw the f-wings shivering, especially Angel, I decided to prove my use. I gathered firewood and lit it. This wasn't really remarkable in itself except for how I lit it. I used my own personal fire breath.
Like I said, dragon mutant.
The f-wings were pleased, but also surprised. I hadn't told them about that particular power yet. I got a wave of Whoa!'s when flames poured from my mouth. "Oh. Right. I can breathe fire. Sorry I didn't mention it before." They stepped close to the fire and Gasman, who seemed to be the friendliest, or least shy, asked "So, how'd you get mutated?"
I noticed Max was about to say something and I raised my brown skinned hand. "No, that's fine. I'll answer." I turned to him, running my fingers over my relatively short black hair; the doctors had always kept it short to watch for horn growth.
And that was when I told them about the good doctor Frankenstein, my testing, my known mutations including the mind reading, and why I had hidden my presence at first. After my story, Iggy was 'looking' into the fire pensively, Fang stared at me, shooting glances at Max, who shot back, Angel looked on the verge of tears, and Gasman's mouth was a little 'o'. Nudge opened her mouth and began to speak rapid-fire, just as I had been warned by Angel. She hadn't told me much about each, but she had told me that Nudge was a big talker and that Fang wasn't.
I
smiled and laid down, curling up for sleep. "Well, with that tale,
I say goodnight." I heard the rest of them lying down for sleep as
well. I hope I didn't scare them… I thought to myself. I felt
Angel's mind touch my own and heard her thoughts.
It's
fine. We're jumpy over new stuff. For my sake, I hope that was
all.